South Pacific - New Theatre

Rodgers and Hammerstein
By Mike Smith

What a show! Fabulous song after song after song, plenty of laughs and just the right amount of balance between joyful political incorrectness and serious social comment.

The band of sailors on a Pacific island, hungry for Dames; the disenchanted plantation owner looking for love, idealistic would-be heroes looking for glory – and the big mama looking for money and a good catch for her daughter.

Throw in some cutesy kids, drop dead stonking dancing boys that kept me and the girls glued to the stage and enough silliness to make even my 12 year old nephew pay attention and it is a sure fire wow of a hit production.

It is almost 60 years since the show exploded on to the Broadway stage closely followed by that brilliant film yet much of the serious side of the show is as relevant as it was then, particularly the racism at its heart and the individual’s battle between social convention and their own heart.

Okay so the real baddies are the “Japs” in this wartime show but the dilemmas facing these Yanks are between the island people they fall in love with but know would be unacceptable as marriage material back home and the stigma of mixed race relationships and the resultant offspring.

What is odd is that the Americans in the cast are both black and white and the racism is directed against the islanders, although the open dramatic montage during the overture shows “coloured” and white nurses having to enroll at different recruiting desks. I will have to watch the film again to see if there is any of this contrast in levels of racism or not.

The Bloody Mary from Sheila Francisco is totally politically incorrect with her pigeon English and big mama persona but it actually works as a foil for the supposed civilized Yanks – and she has, of course, learned her blatant capitalism from them anyway.
Talent show star Helena Blackman is excellent as the Little Rock nurse Nellie Forbush who at first falls for exiled French plantation owner Emile De Becque but is shocked when he reveals he has two children from a now dead islander woman.

Helena will not win any major awards for her singing but she will for her acting enthusiasm and musical prowess, a big presence, a big heart and just right for these sorts of musicals.

Dave Willetts has a big of a dodgy accent (as does Helena for that matter) as De Beque but has a splendid show voice that impresses. Ian McClarnon as Lieutenant Cable also produces some unexpectedly strong vocals just when it mattered.

Just think A Cockeyed Optimist, I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out-a My Hair, Some Enchanted Evening, Bali Ha’i, A Wonderful Guy, Younger Than Springtime - fabulous.

There Is Nothing Like A Dame is the show stopper it has to be and the Follies towards the end of the show hit the spot perfectly.